GRADUATE STUDENT

Altair obtained her BS in Biological Sciences at the Florida Institute of Technology. She was then a research assistant with Craig Mello at UMass Chan Medical School, where she studied VASA homologs in the C. elegans germline.

Altair joined the Banaszynski Lab in 2021. She is interested in enhancer regulation and transcriptional coactivators.

Publications
H3.3 contributes to chromatin accessibility and transcription factor binding at promoter-proximal regulatory elements in embryonic stem cells
Tafessu A, O’Hara R, Martire S, Dube AL, Saha P, Gant VU, Banaszynski LA. (2023) Genome Biology, 24, 25. [paper]

PASK links cellular energy metabolism with a mitotic self-renewal network to establish differentiation competence
Xiao M, Wu C-H, Meek G, Kelly B, Young LEA, Martire S, Castillo DB, Saha P, Dube AL, Gentry MS, Banaszynski LA, Sun RC, Kikani CK. (2023) Elife 81717. [paper]

A family of C. elegans VASA homologs control Argonaute pathway specificity and promote transgenerational silencing
Dai S, Tang X, Li L, Ishidate T, Ozturk A, Chen H, Dube A, Yan Y-H, Dong M-Q, Shen E-Z, Mello CC. (2022) Cell Reports, 40, 111265. [paper]